In further observations, we witnessed Chinese cyber-espionage group TEMP.Periscope undertake attacks on US engineering and defence companies linked to the disputed South China Sea, seeking information that would benefit the Chinese government.

This is all just in the past 18 months, and only referring to select incidents on the record.

Is it any wonder that Australia and nations around the world are wary to hand over access of their infrastructure and influence?

Huawei ban

The government's rumoured banning of Huawei's involvement in the development and deployment of the nation's 5G infrastructure, even as a third party, may sound like paranoia to the layperson, but this concern over Huawei is not new.

One key concern behind these bans is that the Chinese-made technology could potentially contain backdoors which weaken other nations' ability to hold onto confidential information, including intellectual property and financial data and top-secret information such as military secrets.

Given the history of hacking detailed earlier, this level of caution is understandable.

The need to be on guard

It's clear that China is now brazenly conducting espionage operations against other nations in the region and against defence-related targets. Australian organisations need to ensure their defences are up to speed, and that they are equipped to detect and respond to these attacks. A growing roster of nation-states are finding new ways to get in.

But the fact is that Australia's businesses are not as prepared as they should be to protect themselves. The first report released by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner in April as part of the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme highlighted that, in a little over a month, 63 breaches were deemed significant enough to notify the government and 44 per cent of those were the result of malicious or criminal attack.

These figures should concern Australian organisations of all sizes.

More education into the nature of the threats is essential so that businesses better understand and manage the risks posed by cyber-attacks – everything from their intellectual property to their operations are at risk if their defence is poor or cyber security risk isn't effectively managed.

Additionally, we need to find ways to address the shortage of cyber-security experts in the field who can help businesses understand and mitigate threats.

Nothing should come at the cost of a weakened cyber security posture, and the private sector has its own role to play in building and maintaining Australia's defence against cyber threats.